ESCONDIDO: Surge helps Diaz close fund-raising gap in council race

DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO -- Campaign disclosure forms released Tuesday show
that Escondido City Council challenger Olga Diaz has significantly
narrowed incumbent Sam Abed's fundraising lead and passed incumbent
Ed Gallo for second place among the six candidates.

The forms show that Abed has raised $40,869, Diaz has raised
$30,677 and Gallo has raised $26,073.

Three other challengers have raised far less. Richard Barron has
received $8,490 in donations, Chuck Voelker has loaned his campaign
$1,374 and Dennis French said he has received one $500
donation.

Diaz raised nearly $21,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, the
three months covered by the disclosure forms. That is more than
double the $9,505 donated to Abed, $9,200 received by Gallo and
$8,490 raised by Barron.

On Tuesday, Diaz said her success can be partly attributed to
Abed's aggressive fundraising in the spring.

"I was very motivated when the last set of reports showed that
Sam had raised $30,000 to my $10,000," Diaz said. She also said she
learned a lot about fundraising during her unsuccessful 2006
council campaign.

Abed said he's been impressed with how much Diaz has raised.

"She's working hard and I'm working hard," said Abed. "Everyone
is running a hard campaign, and that's a good thing for the
voters."

Diaz also spent significantly more than all of the other
candidates during the summer. She spent $14,000, Gallo spent
$9,853, Abed spent $6,929, Barron spent $6,780, Voelker spent
$1,374 and French spent $500.

Most of her money has been spent on campaign fliers, T-shirts,
newspaper ads and postage for a mailer she sent out just before
absentee ballots arrived early this month. Diaz said she plans to
use direct mail once more just before the Nov. 4 election.

Gallo said he decided against sending mailers before the
absentee ballots arrived, but that he will send mailers soon.

"Until they get that absentee ballot, people usually aren't
tuned in to an election," Gallo said.

Gallo said he still expects to raise a total of $35,000 before
the campaign is over, and Abed said he is still shooting for
$50,000.

On Tuesday, Abed praised a City Council decision last fall to
increase the maximum campaign contribution from $250 to $500.

The increase has allowed candidates to cope with sharply
increased costs for mailing and printing, he said. Without the
increase, voters would have less information about the candidates
this year because fewer mailers would have been sent, he said.

Voelker said lack of money has forced his campaign to rely
almost entirely on walking from home to home.

"This is truly a grass-roots campaign," said Voelker, a
political novice. "I'd like to find a budget for a mailer, but I'm
not sure if I'll be able to afford that this time around.
Hopefully, I'm doing enough."

French said he spent his $500 on campaign fliers. Because he
raised less than $1,000, he said he was not required to file a
disclosure form.

Donations to each of the four leading candidates reflected
support among a wide variety of city residents.

Diaz received donations from small-business owners, local civil
servants and several local Democratic Party chapters.